A/HRC/28/26 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to General Assembly resolution 69/190, in which the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit a report on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Assembly at its seventieth session and an interim report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-eighth session. The present interim report provides information on progress made in the implementation of resolution 69/190, focusing on the concerns identified therein. 2. The report draws upon observations made by the United Nations human rights treaty monitoring bodies, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council and various United Nations entities. It also refers to information from official State media and nongovernmental organizations. 3. Since the most recent report of the Secretary-General submitted to the General Assembly (A/69/306), the application of the death penalty, including in relation to political prisoners and juvenile offenders, has continued at a very high rate. Reports of the arbitrary detention and prosecution of journalists, human rights defenders and women rights activists have continued. Individuals have increasingly been targeted for their alleged contacts with United Nations human rights mechanisms, and members of minority groups have continued to face persistent discrimination and persecution. Women’s rights remain a priority concern, particularly underage marriages and the underrepresentation of women in the labour force and in decision-making positions. 4. The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran continued to engage constructively with the United Nations treaty bodies, and recently submitted its periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/IRN/1) and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD/C/IRN/1). The Government also engaged substantively with the universal periodic review for its second cycle review. Despite these developments, none of the special procedures mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, has been admitted to the country. II. Overview of the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran A. 1. Death penalty Use of the death penalty 5. The Secretary-General continues to express his alarm at the increasing number of death sentences handed down and executions carried out in the Islamic Republic of Iran. United Nations human rights mechanisms have repeatedly and consistently expressed their great concern at this persistent trend, and have urged the Government to end executions. A total of 41 of the 291 recommendations made to the Islamic Republic of Iran during its second cycle of universal periodic review concerned the death penalty (A/HRC/28/12). 6. On 28 October 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights publicly expressed serious concern at the large number of executions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and called upon the authorities to immediately institute a moratorium on 3